Memphis May Triathlon

May 23, 2010 was my first tri of the season. I was very excited to begin racing after a long winter of the most intense training I have ever done! My husband and I left fair weathered Michigan a few days before the race to find Memphis to be steamin hot! We were in awe of the nice weather. Anyway, not having much time to adjust to the heat (90s compared to 60s in MI), we prepared the best we could. The race was a time trial start where competitors left 3 seconds apart. During the race, I wore my XTERRA Vector Pro X2 Sleeveless wetsuit, which worked great for me as I had my best swim ever, putting me in the top 3 going into the bike. It was probably even a little warm for a wetsuit looking back on the race. The bike portion was flat and quick. I felt great on the bike and was able to push hard. I ended up have my fastest bike split ever as well. This race was the first opportunity I had to compete on my new race wheels from Rolf Prima. As I began the run, the heat was rising in Memphis from an already hot temperature to begin with. I took off hard, but the heat was tough to compete with. I was pushing really hard during the run and believed I had hydrated well on the bike. However, not realizing how my physical condition was changing in the race, with 400 yards to go, I ended up collapsing and having a heat stroke and had to be carried away to the medical tent. This was a very scarey learning experience for me. I have had to learn to adjust my electrolyte intake for the extreme heat conditions that I may run into. While I unfortunatly didn't get a chance to finish the race, based off of my time after the swim and bike to run transition, I was in first. Apparantley though, this wasn't my day to shine! So chalk it up to a lesson learned in Memphis. I am getting ready for my next big races!